ATTENDANCE & PUNCTUALITY
Overview For Teachers
ATTENDANCE & PUNCTUALITY: The ability to come to work/school every day on time; leave and return for meals and breaks on time; the ability to notify supervisor/instructor in advance of planned absences; make up work or assignments punctually; come to work/school prepared to work.
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PURPOSE: Upon completion of this module, the student will understand the importance of maintaining good attendance and being punctual in the workplace. In addition, the objectives listed below should be met.
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OBJECTIVES:
ï‚· Ability to recognize the importance of maintaining a good attendance record.
ï‚· Ability to understand the importance of being punctual in all aspects of life.
ï‚· Ability to understand how your attendance and time management skills can positively and negatively affect your
life.
ï‚· Ability to recognize the importance of being prepared for things and how this impacts others
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OVERVIEW:
This module concentrates on teaching students to recognize that attendance, punctuality, and being prepared have widespread impacts on personal reputation and opportunity. In addition, attendance and punctuality affects other students and a teacher’s planned activities. Maintaining good attendance sets a tone of commitment and accountability, and by nature if not maintained, portrays a lack of commitment and/or accountability. These perceptions, whether accurate or not, can adversely affect a person’s reputation and the potential for future opportunities. Lessons provide students with an understanding of the importance of being prepared vs. unprepared.
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TEACHERS: WHAT ARE YOU OBSERVING?
What does attendance and punctuality look like in the classroom or in school in general? A great way to answer this and get things going is through engagement with the students. Ask your students these questions:
1. What do attendance and punctuality look like in school?
2. How does your attendance or being punctual affect others around you? Example: other students (if someone in your group is late), teachers (already started a lesson), team members, etc.
3. What do attendance and punctuality look like within your learning?
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RELEVANCY OF ATTENDANCE & PUNCTUALITY:
Employers state that many applicants and employees have issues with being punctual and being consistently present for work. They rank good attendance and punctuality as the most significant employability skills needed in the workplace.
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LESSON:
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail!
Time Allocation: 20 minutes
Materials/Resources: paper, pens/pencils, computers/tablets/smartphones (students – optional)
ANTICIPATORY SET IDEA:
Share the following quote with the class:
o “Fail to plan, plan to fail.”
ï‚· Ask students to share their thoughts and to explain what the quote means.
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WATCH THE VIDEO:
DIRECT INSTRUCTION:
Ask students the following questions. They can respond by raising their hands.
o How many of you hit snooze on your alarm in the morning? Maybe more than once?
o How many of you struggle with establishing a morning routine?
o How many of you skip breakfast because you ran out of time to eat?
ï‚· Tell students that once they are done with school and graduated and enter the workforce, being prepared for work every day is very important.
ï‚· It’s important to be prepared for school every day as well!
ï‚· Ask students: What does it mean to be prepared for school?
o Homework completed and ready to turn in
o Ate a good breakfast
o Prepared to take any quizzes or tests that are scheduled for that day
o Packed any extra clothes, equipment, etc. for extracurricular activities after school.
o Packed a lunch or brought lunch money
ï‚· Ask students: What does it mean to be prepared for work?
o Uniform is clean
o Ate a good breakfast
o Hair brushed, teeth brushed, showered, etc. (Personal hygiene)
o Packed lunch or brought lunch money
GUIDED ACTIVITY:
Tell students that they are going to establish a night-time and morning routine to make sure they are prepared every day for school and work.
o It’s important to start building these good habits now so that when they are in the workforce, they will already have these habits in place.
ï‚· On a piece of paper, have students make two columns:
o One column = Things To Do After School/Before Bed
o Second column = Things To Do Before School/In The Morning
ï‚· From there, they are going to list all the tasks they must complete in those time frames.
o Examples could be:
 Sports/music practice
 Do chores/babysit
 Run errands with mom
 Homework
 Shower
 Study
 Eat dinner/breakfast
 Brush teeth/hair
 Pack lunch/lunch money
 Clean out/pack backpack
ï‚· When they finish listing all of their tasks, they will prioritize them and create a schedule/routine to follow to help make sure they come to school prepared on a daily basis.
ï‚· They will take this home and post it on their refrigerator or in their room to see every day.
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:
ï‚· Technology Use: Create a short 1-2 question survey (using Survey Monkey, Google Forms, etc.) that students can complete individually.
ï‚· Non-Technology: Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Students will demonstrate their level of understanding by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down. Students with thumbs down will need more clarification.
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ETHICAL SCENARIO--Optional (if not using, skip to "review and closing")
The Ethical Choice Scenarios have been developed to provide teachers with the ability to make the material applicable to real-life and relevant to the students. Within this guide, directions and prompts for the teacher will be in BLUE for ease of facilitation.
READ THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO OUT LOUD TO THE STUDENTS:
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
You are currently on the JV soccer team at your high school and you consider yourself one of the best players on the team. You know that other people are recognizing your talent and skills because they are constantly asking you why you aren’t on the varsity team. One day at practice, your coach calls you over and tells you that the varsity coach wants you to suit up for the game tomorrow morning. You can’t believe it and you scream with excitement! After practice, you rush home to tell your family the great news and they are ecstatic as well. You spend the rest of the evening eating dinner with your family and then looking up soccer videos on YouTube of new moves you could do in the game tomorrow to impress the coach. You finally put down your iPad to read the book for your history assignment that’s due next week. You end up falling asleep at your desk and you wake up in a panic because you forgot to set your alarm. You check the time and its 8AM, which means you are late to the game. You jump up, grab your uniform, head downstairs
and rush out the door. You are so upset with yourself and you worry about what the coach is going to say. Your first opportunity with the varsity team and you show up late to the game. What kind of first impression is that going to make not only on the coach, but with the players as well? Should you lie and come up with some excuse as to why you are late, so you can’t be judged on the fact that you forgot to set your alarm? Should you tell them you got a flat tire or that you broke down or something else? You go back and forth between coming up with a lie and owning up to your tardiness. What do you do?
ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: (display them to the class if necessary)
1. How many of you have already been faced with this scenario in real life?
2. What are the possible courses of action you could take?
3. What are possible positive or negative consequences for you, depending on your decision?
GUIDED DISCUSSION: ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE SITUATION AND HOW THEY ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS.
NOTE 1 : To help facilitate discussion, share any personal experiences you may have encountered with this same sort of issue.
NOTE 2 : Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students, “Why is it a struggle for us to take ownership of our actions and behaviors?”
NOTE 3 : Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students, “What values do you think are in tension here, why is it an ethical dilemma?”
CLOSING DISCUSSION: ASK THE STUDENTS, “WHAT ARE SOME POSITIVES THAT COULD COME FROM TELLING THE TRUTH AND OWNING UP TO YOUR TARDINESS?”
REVIEW AND CLOSING:
So What? – Have students answer the following question on a piece of paper.
o What takeaways from the lesson will be important to know three years from now? Why?
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CORRELATION TO OBSERVATION TOOL: The Frequency Observation Tool (FOT) has a category where students will be observed and rated on their ability to come to school or work prepared on a daily basis. This lesson will offer students some helpful tips on how to make sure they are always prepared to make the next day successful.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IDEAS:
-Visual: Visual learners will benefit from having a printed copy of the article and being able to see and read what the other groups wrote on their chart paper.
-Auditory: Auditory learners will benefit from the partner and the class discussions.
-Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learners could benefit by writing down any important information.
-ESL: ESL students would benefit from having a partner to assist them in the writing activity in case they have questions or need clarification.
-At-risk: At -risk students will benefit from the interaction they have with their group to help keep them focused and on task.
-Advanced: Advanced learners could benefit from helping other students write down their schedules, or by assisting ESL or At -risk students who may need additional help .